The Tragic Complex
by Sephiroth Hates You
Summary: The Summary and other required information is inside. I do not intend to fail you readers. Please read and review. Just read this story. I swear that it is not bad.
1. Forward

Now I know that many of you may simply ignore this, which is all upon you. However, this needs to be said.  
  
Firstly, I have not seen all of the episodes of the lovely YYH, but I have seen up to the end of the Dark Tournament, and that is when Toonami restarted the shows back to number one. Fie.  
  
Another thing, this is one of those infamous 'Choose Your Own Adventure' stories, but do not turn tail just yet. I plan to give this a descriptive element not to mention that I plan to have no or little romance considering that it is not my forte . . . at all. Sorry to all of you diehard romance fanatics, but I am only fourteen, and thus, inexperienced to the ways of the heart.  
  
Finally, do not hold back on constructive criticism or anything else for that matter. I believe that it could be considered your own obligation to help aid me in this arduous task. Yes, you have been asked to accept the most solemn of missions. You, the reader, are requested to aid this pitiful authoress before you. Now would be the time to flee.  
  
For the brave few that remain, I grant you this simple summary:  
  
In this, you take form of the morbid dhampir, who deems herself "Wretch". Now this half human half vampire lurks about in the dark hours continuously looking for something and running.  
  
Marked only by the sound of dripping water and the aura of utter hopelessness, she is quite an intangible character, but how long had this abomination walked this place?  
  
Golden eyes refuse to tell her jaded tale, even at the expense of anything she cared for.  
  
How will this specter of life develop? Will she become an antagonist hell- bent on the ragnarok? Or will a sense of life awaken within her black heart due to the Spirit Detectives? Then again, she can always end up as another corpse, lying cold in the drying mud.  
  
Only you can decide her fate.  
  
Don't worry for I do not plan to make her more important than the main characters. Also, I will try to get more up soon. 


	2. The Rain as it Falls

As the rain poured down from the bleak night skies, something stirred that should not be. The melancholy reigned through the song of the bitter water falling from the forbidden heavens. Only when it rained, did the heavens remain from the humans' view. So when it rained they were no longer protected with their hope. When the water drenches everything in gloom that is when she leaves her forsaken abode and into the streets of man.  
  
Drip, said the water to the earth. Drip.  
  
She made not a sound as she slowly treaded on with no destination in mind for when this blissful rain subsides, she will depart. It was not as if the sun bothers her, but she did not like the waking world. It was filthy.  
  
The rain cleanses all. No, the rain cannot nullify her diabolic existence, but she does not believe that she is nearly as disgusting as the death the humans carved out for themselves, however. She does not care about the foolish creatures either.  
  
Buildings took on a dark hue as this unrelenting water spewed forth violently, as if it shared the dhampir's revulsion towards the modern world. But alas, they all remained as silent structures that dominate the skyline.  
  
If the rain was meant to dissuade people from traveling out of their materialistic abodes, it was well heeded. Maybe a dreary car passed by once in every while during this seemingly eternal night, but the ominous woman paid them not heed for they were just another short-lived life in an uneventful world. Everything was predetermined to die.  
  
Stars, who retain the hope of life, will fade as the nothingness creeps in while preaching its laws of impending doom. The mountains of the unaware world will remember their brilliance.  
  
When those mountains crumble under the effects of the fiend called time, the murmuring winds will whisper the deceased stars' tales. That is when the world will be at its pinnacle. The hope of the stars will live on.  
  
The wind then hears the nothingness words and will be subdued by the reality called the end. Who then will reinforce the tales? People.  
  
The people will forget for such limited creatures will be wound up in frivolous things to care for the hope of salvation known only by the stars. How the world will suffer then.  
  
As the nothingness draws to a close its final sermon, the despair will creep in like a tangible wave. The humans then will drown.  
  
Life will roll on past the time of humans, and for a while, all will be calm until that is, their final light fades out. The sun will shine no more.  
  
The moon, the Lady Moon, will fall to the face of the darkened world for she cannot live without the light of Lord Sun. The world will be forever damaged.  
  
Earth, Mistress Earth, shall cry forth ember tears at the tragedy of it all. She will be so alone. Her tears, which came from the core of her being, shall eventually dry out. Mistress Earth will remain but a blackened shell both on the inside and out.  
  
Everything was predetermined to die. Such was the truth she had known throughout her life as she glimpsed her only friends' lives filter through her undead fingers. What was she to do? Taint the pure essence about them that had drawn her wretched self to them?  
  
The rain sang to her. It had always consoled her, but she knew it would perish as well. Maybe before her time came she would make something for herself like she did those centuries ago with her friends. Truly, they had awakened her human side, but the reality of her heritage quickly returned when they were all but bones.  
  
The song that she so loved was near its end, she knew.  
  
Does she remain in the awakening city? If so go to EMOTION PURE AND STRONG.  
  
Or does she retreat to her sanctuary? If so go to THE LIFE THAT WAS NEVER TO BE. 


	3. Emotion Pure And Strong

Even though the rain had fled and left the morning light in its wake, the dhampir did not retreat. The warmth felt quite strange on her pallid hands just as the momentum of its ascending form stung her golden eyes. She smiled.  
  
As the people began to stir about her, a sensation came over her. However, she was not unaware of what was happening. It was not like she was reading their thoughts, as many vampires were notorious for doing, but thriving off of the emotion that pulsated from them. Maybe she heard a whisper of their desires, but maybe she simply did not.  
  
Nothing mattered.  
  
Streets became crowded with the humans' mechanical contraptions. Cars piled up in the oil stained streets, and they momentarily caught the glint of her narrowed eyes as she sat on the steps of one of the rare Christian churches. What irony, the creature of the night laughed to herself.  
  
They were of many colors and they all seemed to be in a hurry. This played out every day. How bland, she moaned.  
  
People acted as if she was not there, and although they probably were paying more attention to their inconsequential tasks than to a strange woman with malicious glimmering eyes, she could easily vanish from them.  
  
She could not literally disappear, but she can blend easily into shadows and walk by those without them even noticing it. If they were not focusing on her to some extent, she could even scream and not be heard. Vampirism did have its advantages.  
  
The ability to feed off of emotions was very useful, but it did not taste the same as the invigorating coppery blood. The Mara, a mythical vampiress who thrived off of young men's dreams, was believed to have first started this technique in vampiric lore, but she was not accustomed to the tales of her half-kin. Half-breeds were not treated well.  
  
Long ago, before this supposedly advanced civilization had been though of, many claimed that the dhampir were doomed to perish, but here she was, the Wretch, amidst the forgetful humans with not a pure vampire in sight.  
  
A boy, who seems to radiate defiance, paced her by. His aura almost overwhelmed her as he stopped and look in her direction.  
  
A whisper.  
  
A tale.  
  
A death.  
  
The whispers told her nothing more. This mere boy intrigued her, which was a rare event. As a wicked grin formed on her wan face, his raven eyes narrowed.  
  
She took her leave through the church's partially open door. Yusuke Urameshi followed suit but there was no trace of this anomaly.  
  
I know well that it is rather short, but I am rather weary at the moment.  
  
Continue on with THE LIFE THAT WAS NEVER TO BE. 


	4. The Life That Was to Never Be

The wind was in her favor when she turned into a gaseous form for it blew her into the direction of what could be called the under city. Even though the radiant dawn was mounting in the azure sky, the vile portion was drowned in shadow due to the light consuming buildings in the metropolis.  
  
She took on her normal form and also used her innate ability to be undetectable as long as no one was focusing on her. Her golden gaze trailed up the burned out structure, and surprisingly enough, she had little to do with that happening. When she first came to this place, the woman had stumbled upon it. How easy it was to simply just go in and claim it her own, and whenever someone went by, a feeling of dread drowned them. Yes, her home was fortified, and thus, it will remain hers for a long, long time.  
  
As the dhampir turned the rusty knob of the blackened, foul smelling door, a wicked smile played her lips. Then she was inside. The door creaked closed.  
  
The air was thick with time for she rarely entered through the use of a door. The home still retained the burnt smell from the convenient fire, or at least it had been convenient for her. To the normal eye, the area inside looked like a starless night save for a single broken window, but to her, everything took on a blue hue.  
  
The floorboards did not groan in protest when she sauntered towards the falling portal that barked the weak stairs that led down into her true home. The basement.  
  
She had only been here for several weeks, but she had already known that she planed to stay for quite some time, and thus, her belongings where laid about in a loving manner. She did not really possess much. Hanging on a crooked hook was her dirtied white cloak that she had not donned in over a century, but it reminded her of so long ago that she could not bear to discard it. The remnants of her battle gear had been lost years ago, but that did not matter much anyway for she did not require it any more. Lying against a wall was here beloved rapier, but it had rarely seen battle, more so as of late.  
  
The dhampir sat against the cold stone wall, an action that caused some dust to fall on her from the slowly but surely crumbling ceiling, but the cold did not bother her. Her mind wandered back to a time so very long ago.  
  
She had lived for eighteen years in the town where she was born. The people had tried to burn her human mother and her repugnant child. The village burned to the ground instead, but that was the last she had ever seen of her parents. It was funny, she thought, of how she can remember everything in such detail.  
  
A merciful couple found her, a silent infant. They could not have children of their own. The two felt fortunate. How they were wrong. When she was older, she killed them. In pure truth, she had not a clue why she performed that action, but it did not matter in the end.  
  
The long deceased couple had named her Belle. That was not her name.  
  
She took up residence in a peculiar tavern. It was a colossal tower that marked the rebuilt town well. At first, the owner was reluctant to allow her, her stay, but he slowly let her remain, after much convincing, that is.  
  
The dhampir watched through the highest window of the ominous tower as the years went by. She would sometimes go down and sit by the fire. Everyone left her alone.  
  
One rainy time, a dark cloaked woman, a foreigner to Bad Luck Town, entered through the large oaken doors. She trailed behind the dhampir, but the young woman had tried to nullify the encounter. She failed.  
  
The hidden woman dragged her out into the dreary rain, and claimed that she could help her kin. She asked her name. A name was given. The tale began then.  
  
She shook her head violently as if trying to rid her past from her present. They were all dead. All dead!  
  
Her malicious eyes darted heavenward. Someone had entered.  
  
This was her territory, and thus, she could not let this prowler leave alive. Go to An Encounter. 


	5. An Encounter

In one short stride, her hand found the hilt of her trusty rapier. If it had been bathed in the dying sun's light, it would have been glimmering radiantly right now. However, when it is held in the grasp of an undead, it could only be admired in the darkness. Always darkness.  
  
She could hear the intruder's footsteps walking on the floor above. The whisper of their mind called out to her.  
  
A mission, but that was all she could decipher, and that did not sit well with her.  
  
Not a sound could have warned Yusuke Urameshi of the creeping death's movement up the dilapidated stairway, but he could easily sense her negativity. Although she radiated little spirit energy, there was a dark presence about her. The young boy gulped, Botan did not prepare him for this unnerving feeling.  
  
He growled at those thoughts whilst regaining confidence in his prowess. Botan had openly claimed that although this woman would be powerful, he could take her down if she did not comply. Those raven eyes of his steeled onto the ominous cellar. Abruptly he turned heel.  
  
The dhampir had moved behind him!  
  
She almost looked normal to him with her plain white shirt and loose fitting jeans, but he had to wince in disgust as he looked at her colorless arms, which were to slender to be natural. He knew that the rest of her undead body must be in that pitiful condition as well. Yes, she almost looked like any other human. Almost.  
  
"So are you going to come with me," the ebon haired boy stated more than he questioned. His dark eyes narrowed and his being screamed of arrogance. To him, it seemed as if he could take down the world.  
  
A whisper told her confidence.  
  
The dhampir merely frowned. What was he talking about?  
  
His pointer finger nearly lined up with her body, but she could easily tell that it was off. Much to her surprise, she sensed something change in the aura of the boy. This aura of his manifested into gentle, but surely powerful, waves of pale blue.  
  
She recognized the infamous spirit energy in its most raw of forms.  
  
He whispered something, but she was not paying attention to what it was that he was saying. Rather her golden eyes were transfixed upon the energy forming at the tip of his finger.  
  
The energy was released. Although it only clipped her shoulder, it blasted a large portion of the boarded window that was stationed behind her into singed pieces. The falling sun's light illuminated the remainder of the room.  
  
The dhampir realized that she had not been the intended target.  
  
"I'll say this more clearly. I've been told to take you to an alley not far from here where my assistant is to be waiting-" He was cut off when the woman interjected.  
  
"Why," the simple question seemed to taunt him as if he was talking to a child, and this child had an addiction to blood, he remembered  
  
Yusuke's eyes narrowed in frustration, but he continued on calmly, "I don't know, stupid. That's why we have to go and find out."  
  
Something came over her. Normally she would just ignore this and either kill him or flee, but she had an urge to act in accordance with his request. Maybe she had not had an adventure in so long. Or maybe she just desired something different in this repetitive lifestyle that plagued her sense of wanderlust. Staying in a dark cellar until it rained was akin to death.  
  
But was not death what she had been searching for?  
  
She nodded her consent, and this boy sighed. Was it of relief? She felt that unlikely.  
  
A whisper. . .  
  
She shook her head, the whisper told her nothing meaning that the emotion, thought, or desire had never fully played out. Honestly, she did not mean to enact a weakened form of telepathy, but her vampiric powers were strong enough to do it, and they were too weak to be able to control it.  
  
He arched a quizzical eyebrow. She simply smiled.  
  
Once again came that accursed sigh, as if he had faced more tragedy that her, as if he had to fight the specters that assaulted him in every face, every day. He had not lived as long as she. Never could he know the pain of her torn existence, but she followed him out that door.  
  
She did not cringe as the pale sunlight washed over her deathly features.  
  
Many times this boy had turned around to make sure she was there for her steps were so quiet, but it was true that he could sense her. Does he not rely on the abilities of the mind? What is his vendetta against what is not seen? Then again, there could also be another motive to his continuous confirmation that the dhampir was there and not staring at his throat.  
  
Yusuke then led her into an alleyway just like he said he would, and like the rest of the municipality, it was filthy, or at least that is what her mind told her.  
  
She disliked conglomerations of humans for she feel as if they are so blind to not see past the present. What was the worth of money for it will crumble in time's all-loving, all-hating grasp? What did the brand of clothes matter when you will die with nothing on your back? Who cares about politics? How do they change the inevitable? Their existence was so heinous, not as if they were incarnations of devils, but as if they felt as if their lives were eternal. How could these creatures, which had been gifted with intelligence, degrade themselves like so?  
  
Maybe vampires were meant to be their saviors, and simply end their pitiful lives.  
  
The teenager was staring at her, she realized. All he did was snort and continue down the foul alley. Then he stopped.  
  
"So, Yusuke, it seems as if you have managed to snag her then," exclaimed a cheery voice that came from a woman with pale blue hair. Her almond shaped eyes seemed to be akin to the colors of violet and brown, which the dhampir found peculiar. Never before had she encountered one who retained eyes that she could not fully describe.  
  
Rarely did this undead woman gain interest in anything.  
  
"So what is the objective this time, Botan?" The ever-impatient boy was quick to say.  
  
"Sir Koenma has informed me of a sudden rise of vampiric activity. He believes that it may not be consequential considering that few vampires are alive, but he wants us to be prepared to encounter them.  
  
'His resources led us to believe that there was an undead in Tokyo, and after further investigation, we discovered the identity of the dhampir woman Fi-"  
  
"Wretch. I am Wretch," the almost named woman growled forebodingly.  
  
This 'Botan' had been taken under surprise. However, she regained composure and quickly went on. "-That is when we discovered. . . Wretch," she looks more at the woman that Yusuke now, "Koenma and I were wondering if you could teach the Spirit Detectives all that you know about your half kin."  
  
Does this dhampir who goes by the name of 'Wretch' accept or decline?  
  
If she accepts, go to OPEN VEINS.  
  
Or if she declines, go to THE DAWN BEFORE IT COMES. 


	6. Open Veins

Botan looked doubtful as she gazed into the woman's chilled eyes. The ferry girl believed that she knew the answer. Never would she have thought that this creature would accept this offer for it had no obvious gain. She was about to turn around when the damning voice halted her.  
  
"I shall accept although I do not believe that I shall be very useful," the centuries old dhampir sighed out whilst the boy snorted. It seemed as if he overcame his initial shock of this mythical creature.  
  
"Oh, good! I think I better go tell sir Koenma now," the strange woman exclaimed while clapping her hands together. "Here, take this," she mistily said to Wretch as she handed her a small crystalline orb. "This is similar to the Communication Mirror that Yusuke possesses. It will allow you to keep in touch with sir Koenma in the reikai because it is, in the words of Koenma:  
  
'Too much paper work for you to come personally.'"  
  
Wretch merely nodded although she does not care or understand all that this rather intriguing woman was mumbling about. When the miniscule object was in her hands, she rolled it about in her pale fingers and wondered how it actually worked.  
  
She did not have to wait long.  
  
It hovered barely an inch above her fingertips, and it glowed from its inner radiance. Strange, she thought as a small child donning colorful clothing and a matching oversized hat appeared to stand atop of the little ball that seemed akin to glass.  
  
The child's brown eyes opened after a moment or so, and he seemed to have jumped back in fright. She did not blame him. Her eyes were sunken deeply into her skull that looked like the skin had been stretched beyond its limits. Arms that once were toned with deceptively normal muscles now appear little more than bone, and little else was not in this emaciated state. Such was expected if one did not feed off of blood. A vampire would have been dead if he did not feed, but a dhampir could survive without blood.  
  
One should not mistake her for the atoning undead for the only reason she did not feed was that it brought by far too many complications.  
  
He is rude, she could not help but think.  
  
This child who could very well be 'Koenma' quickly straightened himself although his eyes averted from the dhampir's face.  
  
"Uh. . . I need to make several things clear to you. Firstly, you are to not harm my Spirit Detectives in any way, shape, or form. Secondly, if you require blood then you can only drink from the criminals, and only so because you need to be strong in order to prepare my team. Lastly, you will be killed if you turn against us," his voice seemed hazy as if he was a great distance away, and maybe he just was. Already she was tiring of the child Koenma's pointless lecture, and thus, she shoved the orb into one of the pockets of her normal human garb that she had to were in these modern times. Her hunch was correct when the glow radiated from the lucid orb no more which signified that the connection had terminated.  
  
"If you want me to prepare these 'Spirit Detectives' then take them to my abode tomorrow's night," Wretch elegantly stated. With that said, she walked out of the miserable alley.  
  
She had to feed.  
  
An hour had past since Wretch had accepted the offer, and her prey was in her golden sights. The soon-to-be victim was just a homely woman who appeared to be homeless.  
  
As silent as death (and she was almost just that), she stalked behind the unsuspecting destitute and clamped a pallid hand over her foul-smelling orifice. With strength that only something inhuman could retain, she ripped open the woman's wrist with a surprisingly strong hand. While her first remained over the doomed woman's mouth, she drew her fanged mouth to the freely bleeding vein.  
  
Blood tends to contain memories and feelings, and some undead enjoy reliving their victims' unfortunate lives when feeding, but Wretch pushed aside this pathetic woman's biography and simply fed. It had been too long since blood coursed down her throat. Too long, she lamented.  
  
The lifeless body hit the cold earth with a sickening thud, and the vein that had been slashed made it seem as if it had been suicide, a rather common thing in these filthy areas.  
  
An eerie mist that almost seemed to move of its own accord greeted the few on the darkened streets. Then again, it was a windy night.  
  
Many cracks in her home's structure allowed the renewed dhampir to slip in effortlessly, and that is where she remained until the sound of several people spoke to her pointed ears.  
  
Whispers promised her a large headache. She merely smiled.  
  
It felt good to have warm blood.  
  
Wretch felt no remorse when a boy with red orange hair fell through the wood's weak structure and landed painfully on his back. The fallen boy was dressed in a blue school uniform strangely enough.  
  
A lithe man ran with inhuman speed darted down the stairs, and thus, they did not break. Her metallic eyes could follow his movement nonetheless. The aura about him was very intimidating and he wore black garments. She could easily tell that he was not human.  
  
Yusuke, the boy from the other day, nonchalantly jumped down through the opening that was made by the blue garbed one. Plastered on his face was that all-knowing grin. It was irritating.  
  
The last one to make his way down was a youth with dark red hair that was nearly as dark as the Wretch's. His emerald eyes shifted cautiously as he lightly stepped from one platform to the next. It must have been the grace that he seemed to possess that allowed him to not endure the fate of the fallen boy.  
  
"So what happened to your face," Yusuke noted.  
  
Indeed, the feeding had restored Wretch back to her more normal state. Her face seemed more full and was almost human save for the distinguishing paleness. Her arms were not so skeletal, however. The dhampir was still unnaturally slender.  
  
Without her consent, whispers told her their names. It appeared as if the rehabilitated strength from the blood made her innate abilities more useful.  
  
Kazuma Kuwabara rose slowly whilst mumbling to himself.  
  
"Urameshi, this place makes me feel as if my mind has been frozen over for a year," he shouted out as he tried to 'rub out the tingling feeling'.  
  
The dark haired boy shook his head, but Wretch cut him off even before he could speak.  
  
"Kazuma, you must get used to it. Especially since I had been informed that you may encounter a feeling much worse than the one I emit. I am but a mere half-breed. Can you imagine the magnitude of despair that a vampire would produce," she questioned rhetorically.  
  
"Yeah, Mister Sensitive," Yusuke chimed in.  
  
If the Spirit Detectives realized that Wretch knew Kuwabara's name, they did not show it.  
  
She had lit a candle for the humans for she knew that they were most likely not used to the dark, and Wretch leaned against a dusty wall.  
  
"I do not know much about vampiric lore, but I do know the weaknesses that are common to them. If you have an arduous time at remembering things, I suggest you find a way to write it down.  
  
'Crucifixes are not effective and will result in them mocking you. Humans mixed the weakness of the werewolf to bullets with vampires, but to rip out or impale the heart of a vampire will either mortally wound it or just inflict severe pain, which depends on the age.  
  
'The sunlight, as Yusuke should know, does not cause us to combust, it can, however, temporarily blind a vampire. This rarely affects Dhampirs.  
  
'One thing you must know is that vampires love to trick you. They prefer to enter your mind and turn what you know and care about against you. It requires much mental control to block them out, and if you know something about the vampire for example; his name or age, that can also fortify your mind's defense.  
  
'That is all I shall say for now," the undead mumbled as she closed her eyes. She could get weary and that she was at the current moment. "You can stay here if you want."  
  
Kuwabara remained behind as the others found their own method of departing, and he took on a meditative pose. He was obviously trying to get accustomed to the morose feeling of the undead.  
  
Does she stay there with Kuwabara? If so, go to YUUKAN MEGAMI AND FILIA.  
  
Or does she decide to explore the remainder of the night? If so, go to HIEI. 


End file.
